Due to their simple layout and adaptability to various environments, straw checkerboards are widely used to control windblown sand in China. To fully understand the wind proofing and sand-fixing benefits of different board specifications, and to determine the restorative effects of straw checkerboard, we tested different sizes of checkerboard, determined their performance as a windbreak and in trapping shifting sand, and constructed models based on wind tunnel tests, enabling the wind speed flow field to be analysed. We also sampled the soil in areas where straw checkerboards had been established for several years and analysed the trends in soil physical and chemical properties over time. We found that all sizes of straw checkerboard effectively reduced the wind speed near the surface and formed a protected area, with the best protective effect achieved for a one-meter board. All sizes of straw checkerboard effectively intercepted windblown sand to form surface accumulation, with the one-meter board again showing the best performance. The use of a straw checkerboard also effectively improved the physical and chemical properties of soil and promoted ecological restoration. These results indicate that straw checkerboards are a low-cost engineering measure that could play an important role in desertification control and the ecological restoration of sandy land ecosystems.

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A novel Talaromyces species was isolated from a soil sample of the Xisha Islands, Hainan, China. The culture characterization on four standardized media, microscopic observations and phylogenetic analyses based ITS, BenA and CaM regions indicate that it is new to science and named as Talaromyces xishaensis sp. nov. The new species belongs to section Talaromyces, and is related to T. cnidii, T. flavovirens and T. siamensis in the phylogeny inferred from BenA and CaM genes. It is distinguished from the latter three species by colony morphology, more metulae per verticil, subglobose to ellipsoidal conidia, and slow growth rate on CYA at 37 °C.

Cimicifuga nanchuanensis P. K. Hsiao (Ranunculaceae) has been regarded as an imperfectly known species. Based on critical examination of herbarium specimens and living plants we have determined that it is a morphologically distinctive species and that its geographical range is much wider than believed before, far from locally endemic to its type locality. Our cytological examination reveals the species to be a diploid (2n = 16). Our molecular phylogenetic analyses using nrDNA and cpDNA datasets confirm our morphological observations. As the generic concept and delimitation of Actaea L., in which Cimicifuga Wernisch. and Souliea Franch. are included, have also been strongly corroborated by our molecular phylogenetic analyses, here we adopt a broad Actaea and make a new combination for the species in question, i.e. Actaea nanchuanensis (P. K. Hsiao) J. P. Luo, Q. Yuan & Q. E. Yang.